


The Family He's Always Wanted

by masulevin



Series: Ophelia Cousland, Queen of Ferelden [5]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Parenthood, papa alistair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 19:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12941862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masulevin/pseuds/masulevin
Summary: The Calling may be false, but it's still constantly in the back of his mind. Alistair distracts himself with the family he's always wanted. Just a little fluff with Alistair and princess Elodie.





	The Family He's Always Wanted

The only thing that keeps her quiet is the steady rocking step that Alistair has perfected at some point during the last week. Her reedy wails settle first to whimpers, then to quiet snores as he traces a steady path through the castle, humming quietly with each step.

Teagan and the nanny both tried to keep Alistair from his daughter at first, claiming a king has no place in a nursery. He put his foot down, and Ophelia backed him up with the intensity that made him fall in love with her in the first place.

They both waited years for Elodie. They aren’t going to waste time letting strangers raise her the way they spent their childhoods – Ophelia, forgotten by her parents among hired nurses and servants until she was called out to be paraded in front of guests and sent back to their rooms, and Alistair, ignored at best and abused at worst, running around the Redcliffe Castle stables.

Ophelia is sound asleep, resting as Alistair takes his turn in the small hours of the morning. Colic, the nanny said, not harmful or lasting, but exhausting for the caregivers, even split between a baby’s parents and nurses.

Alistair finds that he minds less. It gives his body something to do when he can barely sit still, walking up and down, and it’s easier to believe that this is truly happening and not some strange demon-dream when he holds his daughter against his chest with his chin on her tiny head.

He can believe it’s real when he can feel her breathing and occasionally squirming against his chest as she sleeps and he walks. It helps calm the song still in his mind, the one that would keep him awake anyway, the one he knows is false but is slowly killing him all the same.

He slows to a cautious stop by one of the castle’s narrow windows, but Elodie doesn’t react to the change in motion. He holds himself still in the silvery moonlight that spills through the glass and adjusts the baby in his arms until he can look down at her face.

This, she does notice, blinking open bright blue eyes to stare up at her father. Alistair smiles softly, starting to sway gently from side to side in the hopes that Elodie will remain still as he examines her, as he reminds himself that she’s truly here.

Her eyes are the same as her mother’s, ringed with dark lashes, set over pink cheeks. She blinks at him once, slowly, then wrinkles up her nose as she sucks in a deep breath that Alistair knows is the immediate precursor to another high-pitched scream.

“Okay, okay,” he says right away, shifting her back onto his shoulder. He pats her back softly, but she keeps her head upright to stare angrily over his shoulder. He can imagine the way her little brow will furrow and her eyes will squeeze closed just before she starts to cry, so he keeps talking to distract her as he starts to walk again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up. You’re just so beautiful I had to look at you.”

She doesn’t cry, grunting instead. Alistair adjusts his course to head back toward the nursery where the all clean nappies are.

“You don’t want to scream to wake your mama up, do you?” Alistair mutters, summoning a stream of chatter to calm Elodie as he wanders. “She’ll be cross with both of us if you do. Do you want to give up most of your crib to me? I’ll have to sleep with you if she kicks me out of her bed.”

Elodie makes a gurgling noise that he can easily pretend is a laugh.

“Oh sure,” he continues, “it’s funny now. It won’t be funny when we’re both squeezed into that tiny thing and you have to sleep on my stomach.” She makes another little noise and lets her cheek rest against his collarbone. “I know it’s softer now than it used to be, but I don’t think that would be comfortable for either of us.”

They’ve reached the nursery, and Alistair pushes through the door and lets it fall closed behind him. He expertly holds Elodie in his left arm while using the other to activate the runes that give the room light. It’s not very bright, but it’s enough for him to be able to see what he’s doing as he lays Elodie down.

She wiggles her little fists at him and kicks her feet as Alistair fixes her with a stern look. “We’re going to get through this whole thing without either of us crying or getting sick,” he informs her. She sucks in a deep breath as he starts to undress her, so he starts talking again to distract her from the scream he knows she’s trying to release.

“Are you finished down here?” he asks, readying himself before opening her diaper. “If I put a clean one on you and then you mess it right away, you’re in trouble.” A pause so he can focus, then he starts again: “I’ll tell your mama and she’ll be cross with you instead of me, and who knows what she’ll do. Smother you in kisses, let Princess lick your feet, oh!” He snaps the fingers of his free hand as he drops the dirty diaper in the bin. “She’ll make you talk to Uncle Teagan.”

A quiet voice from behind him adds, “And we all know how awful that is.”

Alistair is smiling even before he glances over his shoulder to see Ophelia crossing the nursery to join them. He leans down to accept her kiss before finishing his task and adjusting her sleeping clothes back.

“Why are you threatening our favorite daughter with your uncle?” Ophelia asks, holding out her hands for Elodie. Alistair passes her over, then can’t help but pull both of them back toward him so that Ophelia’s back is against his chest and he can see Elodie grinning in her arms.

“I couldn’t think of anything worse,” Alistair answers, honestly, but with a grin in anticipation of Ophelia’s giggle.

She doesn’t disappoint, laughing quietly and bouncing Elodie a little to keep her quiet.

“Oh, Alistair,” she says. “I do love you.”

He bends down and kisses her cheek, then wraps his arms around her middle to hold her close. “And I love you.”


End file.
